I am confident that claims based authentication and authorization (SAML) could be a beautiful part of the solution, following Kim Cameron's 7 Laws of Identity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Assertion_Markup_Language
http://www.identityblog.com/?p=353
Sadly Microsoft dropped CardSpace this year, seemingly due to "Not solving an immediate perceived problem" and being "Not drop-dead simple to use" according to Mike Jones.
http://self-issued.info/?p=458

Perhaps you've seen this recent XKCD about password choice? It prompted a spirited debate – even on our very own Security Stack Exchange – about the merits of the argument presented there. Now, to be clear, I'm completely on Randall's side here; I'm all for passphrases over passwords, and I...